Over the past few years, the Humane Society of Berks County has been redefining what a local animal welfare organization can do.  We have expanded services, created innovative, nationally recognized programs, and we have helped more animals and people than anyone ever thought possible.  We've done it all with the support of people like you.  People who care about what happens to animals right here and want to make a difference in their lives.

Now it is time to do more.  A crumbling, outdated kennel is keeping the HSBC's staff and volunteers from providing the quality of care for the animals that they are capable of giving and that the animals deserve.  We need to bring the Humane Society animal housing into the 21^st century.  To do that, we need your help now.

We need your help to replace the cracked and broken walls and floors.  We need your help to upgrade the ventilation to keep animals healthy.  We need your help to redesign the canine habitats so they are no longer "cages."  Quite simply, we need your help to provide the animals with the best housing that can be found in any shelter, of any size, anywhere.   

This year the Humane Society will house around 7,000 animals.  For some, it will be the only safe haven they have ever had.  For others, it is the first stop on the way to a happy, new life in a forever home.  Some are temporary guests as part of the PetNet emergency foster program, recognized for innovation by Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.  Others come to us during disaster response by the Berks County Animal Response Team, for which the HSBC is the lead agency.  Others enter our shelter as victims of abuse, cruelty and neglect.

But whatever the reason they are here, these wonderful animals deserve to stay in the healthiest, most modern shelter possible and we are determined to give it to them.

Last winter, we asked our supporters to help us upgrade the adoption cattery and make urgently needed stop-gap repairs to the kennels.  Hundreds responded.  Thanks to their support, we created a state-of-the-art adoption cattery that is among the finest in the nation.  It has gotten more cats adopted, kept more cats healthy, and has raised the bar in our region for what is expected from an animal welfare organization.

We were able to do a great deal but the dogs still need a proper adoption facility and the cats still need upgraded recovery and isolation facilities.  We want to finish what we started! 

This year, we are trying something new and are starting this campaign with you, our e-news readers.  Our internet goal for the 2007 Kennel-Cattery Campaign is $25,000.  To reach that goal we will need the support of nearly every one of the 5,000 readers of this message.  I am asking you to join the Humane Society of Berks County in making a very real, life and death, difference for our animals by making a generous donation to the HSBC's 2007 Kennel & Cattery Campaign.  Whether you can give $35, $75, $100 or wish to make a Dog Habitat naming donation of $2,500 or more, the animals need your help today.

Your donation will be used specifically for these urgently needed improvements.  You will be saving cats, dogs and other animals from deadly illnesses.  You will be helping more animals find permanent loving homes.  You will be providing animal victims of catastrophe a safe haven when they need it most.

Together, we can join forces to make a difference and show that we can get the job done right!  I have seen the success that optimism, hard work, and creative thinking have brought to the HSBC.  I am confident that when we "break ground" on the Kennel & Cattery Project this winter it will be with the generous and strong support of those in our community and beyond who care about our mission and want to be part of a solution.  Let's be perfectly honest:  Dollars save lives and the animals need your help.  Please look into the eyes of the animals shown in this email, animals saved by the HSBC from homelessness, cruelty, injury, and natural disaster.  Then help us to save even more.

I hope that you will join me in supporting this important work.  Please, make a difference today.  Make a donation today.